Educational Science

Leonard Cohen's Death: What Causes Falls in the Elderly?

Legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen died after falling in his home, his manager has now revealed, but can falls signal poor health in older adults? Cohen's death was first reported last week, but on Wednesday (Nov. 16), Cohen's manager Robert Kory released a statement with more details, saying the songwriter fell...

US Drug Overdose Deaths Continue to Rise: Here Are the Numbers to Know

The rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States continues to rise, with a particularly sharp spike in heroin-related deaths in recent years, according to a new report. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the rate of U.S. drug overdose deaths more than doubled...

Even after someone is declared dead, life continues in the body, suggests a surprising new study with important implications. Gene expression — when information stored in DNA is converted into instructions for making proteins or other molecules — actually increases in some cases after death, according to the new paper,...

'Death Cap' Mushrooms Sicken 14 in California

More than a dozen people in Northern California recently became seriously ill from eating wild death cap mushrooms that they gathered themselves, according to a new report. During the first two weeks in December 2016, the California Poison Control System received reports of 14 people who had to be hospitalized...

Time of Death? Check the Body's 'Necrobiome'

It's a line you'll hear in almost any crime show after someone finds the body — the detective turns to the medical examiner and asks, Time of death? But in real life, medical examiners don't have a very precise method for figuring out how long ago someone died. Now, researchers...

Can Your 'Self' Survive Death?

Robert Lawrence Kuhn is the creator, writer and host of Closer to Truth, a public television series and online resource that features the world's leading thinkers exploring humanity's deepest questions. This essay, the second of a four-part series on the Self, is based on Closer to Truth episodes and videos,...

Teen's Death: How Caffeine Can Kill a Healthy Person

A teen in South Carolina has died after drinking three caffeinated beverages over a 2-hour period. The 16-year-old boy drank a large diet Mountain Dew, a McDonald's cafe latte and an unnamed energy drink in that time, USA Today reported today (May 16). The Richland county coroner, Gary Watts, said...

Shootings Are Now the 3rd-Leading Cause of Death in US Kids

Gun-related injuries are now the third-leading cause of death among children ages 1 to 17 in the United States, according to a new report. The results show that almost 1,300 children in the U.S. die from gunshot wounds yearly, and an additional 5,790 children are treated for gunshot wounds and...

Leading Causes of Death in US Vary Greatly by Region

The rates at which people in the U.S die from different factors vary significantly among the regions of the country, according to a new study. For example, the rates of death from cardiovascular diseases were highest in the Southeast over the past three decades, according to the study. But death...

Patients Treated by Female Docs Have Lower Risk of Death

Older patients who are treated by female doctors after being admitted to a hospital may be slightly less likely to die within a month of their admission than those who are treated by male doctors, according to a new study. Researchers found that patients who were treated by female doctors...